and Margaret, Arch-Duchess of Austria, acceded to it on the 6th of December.

In this treaty, likewise, there is no exception made of any part of the Spanish dominions:. it contains the following article:

"In primis, conventum, concordatum et conclusum est, quod ab hac die sit bona, sincera, vera, integra, perfecta et firma amicitia, lega, confederatio, pax, et unio, per terram, mare, et aquas dulces futuris temporibus perpetuo duratura, inter dictos dominos imperatorem et regem eorumque heredes et successores, regna, patrias, dominia, terras, vassallos et subditos quoscumque, præsentes et futuros, tam ecclesiasticos quam seculares cujuscumque gradus seu conditionis existant, etiam si archiepiscopali, ducali vel minori dignitate, statu aut gradu præfulgeant; ita quod prædicti vassalli et subditi hinc inde ubique locorum sibi invicem favere, seque mutuis prosequi officiis, et honesta affectione pretractare teneantur, passimque tam per terram, quam per mare et aquas dulces ad dicta regna, patrias, dominia et terras, civitates, opida, villas munitas aut non firmatas, portus et districtus quoscumque et eorum quemlibet hinc inde libere et secure accedere, intrare et in eisdem quamdiu voluerint morari et conversari, ac ibidem victualia, ac alia eis necessaria sine quacumque contradictione emere et vendere nec non ab eisdem regnis, patriis, dominiis, terris, civitatibus, opidis, villis, portubus, et districtibus et eorum quolibet, toties quoties eis libuerit, ad partes proprias vel alienas quascumque cum suis aut conductis vel accommodatis navigiis, plaustris vehiculis, equis, armaturis, mercimoniis, sarciunculis, bonis et rebus quibuscumque ire, recedere ac remittere quemadmodum propriis in patriis hæc omnia eis facere liceret et sicut proprii subditi locorum et patriarum illarum facere possent ita quod nullo salvo-conductu aut licentia, generali vel speciale, indigeant, neque in aliquo locorum prædictorum salvum-conductum vel licentiam petere teneantur."

A French squadron, of three sail and 170 men, arrived at Cubagua in October, and sent an armed boat on shore, which the inhabitants beat off: some of the French were wounded with poisoned arrows, and died raving mad. Their commander then offered to desist from any further hostilities, if the inhabitants would give him a thousand marks of pearls: they returned for answer, that they required no ransoming; but if the French wished to land their merchandize for sale, they might do so. Two of the inhabitants were sent as hostages, and the French landed the greater part of their cargo, and twelve or thirteen persons. In the night a Negroe swam off to the largest ship; and said, that the Cubaguans had captured the patache and seized the Frenchmen, and had planned to come with fifteen or twenty canoes in the night, to cut the ship's cable, and bore holes in her bottom, to sink her. Upon this the French weighed, and went to Margarita, and from thence to Saona, to

wait for the ships from Santo Domingo, bound to Spain with bullion.

Near Saona, they took a patache with five men, and putting eighty men into her, sent her to San German (in Puerto Rico). The inhabitants being informed of their approach, fled to the mountains with their property, leaving ten horsemen to protect the town: they were unable to resist the French, who brought some " versos" (small guns), and burnt the town. They then went to the island of Mona, where they took two Spaniards and an Indian; and leaving a Portuguese caraval, which they had taken at the Canaries, with the Portuguese and the two Spaniards, and the four from the patache, they sent them with a letter to the Royal Audience, in which the French captain complained of the inhabitants of Cubagua for having broken the truce, and threatened, that if the Frenchmen who were left there were not well treated, he would revenge them ten for one, he said they were going to France for a greater force to destroy those parts, and should carry the hostages they had on board from Cubagua with them. The president, without delay, sent 250 men in four vessels, with orders to board the Frenchmen: and in case they were gone, to proceed to San Christopher's and Dominica, to apprise the ships coming from Spain of the French being in those seas, and accompany them to port.

One of the caravelas" returned to Santo Domingo, and said that they had found the French at anchor off the Mona, who expected they were the vessels with gold and pearls for which they had been waiting. Another of the Spanish caravelas got near the largest French vessel, which made sail, and in the hurry sunk the boat. One of the Spaniard's shot was a stone ball from Cubagua, which set fire to some fireworks in the after-part of the French vessel. One of the hostages from Cubagua swam to the Spanish vessel, and said that the French had twenty-five men killed. Night coming on, the vessels separated. The next day the combat was renewed; the Spaniards expended all their powder, and then made sail for Saona, chased by the French. The president of Santo Domingo sent another squadron after the French, but they were gone.

A petition was sent to the King, for a supply of warlike stores to defend the island-for as yet poisoned arrows were the only weapons used.

Information was sent to the King, that another fishery for pearls had been discovered at the Island of Coche, four leagues from Cubagua; in the month of January, more than 1500 marks of pearls had been found there. To prevent the Indians from being overworked at the new fishery, the King ordered that they should only fish in the summer and in fine weather, and then only for four hours in a day, and not in more than five fathoms water; and when they

Herrera, 4. 6. 12.

went for the rich oysters, which are found in from five to eight fathoms, they were not to work more than three hours: and neither on those days or festival days were they do any other work. The Indians were to be well fed, and have an allowance of wine given them; and they were to have clothes found them, and a hammock, and to be encouraged to marry.

The arrival of the English vessel at Santo Domingo, and of the French squadron at Cubagua, induced the president of Santo Domingo to call a meeting of the estates of the island, to consider of what was best to be done. They determined to inform the King of the true situation of affairs, and what they judged to be the best remedy.

They said that the Islands of San Juan and Española were the principal entrances into those parts, and had a great quantity of provisions:- That the masters and sailors who navigated those regions had lost all fear of justice, and no other corsairs than themselves were necessary, because they not only robbed the Spaniards on board their ships, but the gold belonging to the King, of which some instances were given: and that the said masters disquieted the country, because, without any dread of the royal punishment, they carried away whole houses and their inhabitants, wherever they chose, in such a manner, that in all those parts there were no secure settlements except in Santo Domingo: That the delinquents could neither be caught or punished, from the diversity of jurisdictions in that country, and because the sailors concealed themselves in their ships, from whence they followed their atrocious customs; killing the governors, disobeying the King's orders, and losing all fear of God. And the trading vessels were so bad, that the King's gold, as well as individual's, ran great risks of being lost in them. That the governors in those parts had but little respect for the King's orders, or those issued by the Royal Audience in his name. And all the provinces being in confusion, every body did as they chose, and sent their ships to and from Spain, in disobedience of the orders of the Royal Audience, who could not apply a remedy, because the vessels did not rendezvous at the island,

For these inconveniences, and because the English and French had reconnoitred that country with so much diligence, it appeared to the Audience proper that his Majesty should be informed of what remedy could be applied.

In the first place, they recommended that all persons and merchandise should sail from and come to one port in that country, which should be securely fortified; and that a Royal Audience should reside there.

And that every master of a vessel should enter into a bond, at

the custom-house in Spain, to appear before the Audience, and answer for his conduct upon the passage.

They recommended Española as the most proper place for the general rendezvous, and answered the objections which they thought likely, that the new Audience at Mexico might make to the plan.

1530.

In the beginning of this year, the Royal Audience remitted to Spain, as the King's fifth, 10,000 pesos of fine gold, and 250 marks of pearls. Sebastian Ramirez, the president, reported also, that a silver mine had been discovered in Española, and some mines of iron, which produced superior metal to those in Biscay: a sample of it was sent to Spain. And that the fortress at the mouth of the river of Cumana, where the pearl fishermen got their water, had been thrown down by an earthquake, and should be rebuilt.

Several Spaniards had made complaints of Garcia de Lerma, the governor of Santa Marta, who disregarded the royal orders, and did great mischief to the natives. Ramirez reported, that the Audience had done what they could to remedy these inconveniences.

Doña Maria de Toledo, wife of Don Diego Columbus, the vicequeen, sailed from Española in March; but she could not obtain permission to freight some vessels for Flanders, with her property.

The inhabitants of San Juan were in great distress. The storms which had followed the hurricanes had made the rivers overflow their banks, and crops, trees, and herds had been washed away; so that the works at the gold mines, and other undertakings, were suspended.

But the war waged by the Caribs, distressed them most: 500 of these savages, in eleven canoes, landed at Daguao, the best cultivated part of the island: they plundered the house of Christoval de Guzman, killed him and all the Spaniards, Negroes, and Indians upon the estate, and all the horses and dogs; and they carried away alive twenty-five Indians and Negroes to eat, as was their custom. These depredations spread so much consternation in the island, that the women and children slept every night in the monasteries and churches, and the men kept constant watch.

Ramirez, therefore, begged arms for the inhabitants, and that two brigantines might be armed, which as yet had not been done; and that permission might be given to act offensively against the Caribs in their islands, that those fleets which touched at them might burn their villages and destroy their plantations, because, when this was done before, it had made them quiet for twelve years: and that the fortress at Puerto Rico might be built, otherwise the island would be abandoned by the inhabitants.

Herrera, 4. 7. 6.

1531.

A general order was issued this year to all the provinces in the Indies, that neither by war, exchange, or purchase, nor for any other reason, should the Indians be made slaves, under the heaviest penalties. And although the king lost a great revenue in his fifth of the slaves, yet, that those people might have more liberty, he approved of its being done. And, that this law might be inviolably kept, he ordered it to be published in all the provinces of the Indies, not only in the principal cities, but in every particular place and all the irons and marks that were kept for marking them were to be broken. Herrera says this was a holy ordinance, which prevented an infinity of abuses and sins; and it would have prevented much more if it had been established from the first, especially in Cubagua, Santa Marta, and Margarita, where incalculable mischief had been done - overrunning the main land, and seizing the people, without any distinction of good or bad.

All possible means were used to ameliorate the situation of the Indians, as well for their souls as for their bodies. The emperor did not cease to solicit liberty for the Indians: and, to obtain a true account of their capacity, he ordered Gonçalo de Guzman, the governor of Cuba, to try the experiment in this manner. The "repartimiento" of Pedro de Moron, in the province of San Salvador, had fallen vacant, and the King ordered the principal men among them to be called, and the interpreter, Pedro de Rivadeneyra, to tell them, the King ordered, that if they had capacity for it, he would give them liberty, different from what till then they had had, to live as Spanish labourers, without being entrusted to the care of any Spaniard. And that this might be the better done, and they live like Christians, and adopt their customs, they were to settle near San Salvador, or some other Spanish town, there to work for themselves, and keep their people separate, with a chaplain to instruct them in the faith: and that they were to cultivate the land, breed live stock, and dig gold, paying the King the same tribute as his other subjects; and with what they gained, they were to clothe their women and children, and maintain them: and that in the interim, while they were making their farms, the governor would provide them with necessaries; and if they did not comply with this, they were to return to the same situation they were in before, under the care of a Spaniard. A day was given them to consider of their

answer.

The next day, the Indians went to the governor; and Diego Ramirez, an Indian native from Guaminico, said, that all the Indians in his village wished to go to Bayamo, near the Spaniards,